Amanda Agati

All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve this week as it considers whether to raise interest rates at its policy meeting on Wednesday.

Amanda Agati is chief investment officer at PNC, and she says policymakers will be considering outside forces, including the war in Iran and higher oil prices.

That's the thing that I'm worrying about, like how, how long is it gonna take for some of these forces to settle down outside of what I think the Fed may or may not need to do? And, and frankly, I'm just not sure that 25 basis points can really help.

It's really gonna harm, I think, those that need support-

Mm

... um, in this environment.

PNC's Amanda Agati on Bloomberg this weekend.

Odds of a rate increase have spiked near 90%.

The Federal Reserve is still considering whether to raise interest rates ahead of its next policy meeting next week, with the odds of a rate increase now spiking near 90% after Friday's hot CPI print.

Amanda Agati is Chief Investment Officer at PNC.

Clearly, the market thinks that the data this week says we're go, right? We're 25 bas- basis points higher, if not two rate hikes in the balance of the year.

And I've been saying this for a while, I am not convinced that that's the right answer.

But I think the Fed is still in a tough spot.

I don't know if they have it figured out quite yet, but the market seems to think it's figured it out.

PNC's Amanda Agati on Bloomberg this weekend.

Underlying inflation rose more than expected in August, with core CPI increasing about a third of a percent from a month earlier.

Ed Yardeni, who coined the term bond vigilante back in the day, says the behavior of yields lately is orderly and should not be ringing any alarm bells.

So why are policymakers intervening? Amanda Agati is the chief investment officer at PNC Financial Services.

I'm not gonna make you explain, Amanda, motives, what you think, but you do acknowledge that the bond market is the most important market story right now.

So let's hear it in your words.

I ticked off what was prominent on credit investor radars, the Middle East and the price of oil distillates, Russia and Ukraine and the price of oil distillates, sticky inflation, the promise of AI, data centers, trade friction, an uncertain Fed reaction function, and yes, the path of interest rates in the face of historically high debt and deficits.

In the words of PNC Asset Management CIO Amanda Agati, macro got really complex really fast.

She added, macro headwinds are starting to bug investors.

That frustration must be taken in context.